Inspection Testing Plan (ITP) VS Checklist

DEFINITION OF ITP?

An Inspection and Test Plan (ITP) lays out a schedule of inspections at critical control points or 'hold points' within a process, in order to verify that things are progressing as they should be.

It can be defined as the program of inspection, testing of materials, and survey to be prepared and submitted by the contractor to the Consultant for approval before usage and application to the site.

An "Inspection and Test Plan" (ITP) might also be called a "Quality Inspection Plan (QTP)".

Inspection and Test Plans set out critical control points or 'hold points' at various stages within a process. Each control point is a scheduled inspection or verification activity, where you will make sure that things are progressing as they should be.

Inspection and Test Plans (ITP) are often used as a way to satisfy the requirements of the ISO 9001:2015 standard related to control of production and service provision.

Did you notice "at appropriate stages"? This means that checking happens throughout the process and not just on the final output. That's a good strategy as the earlier you pick up mistakes or problems, the less it costs you.

There is also a requirement to keep evidence of the check, which means a record of some kind.

What the standard is saying is that you must plan when, and what, and how you will check that your worke is meeting requirements. Planned and executed properly, an ITP will ensure a consistent output. It's up to you to determine where these appropriate points are in your process. It's also up to you to determine what your records will be.

Inspection and Test Plan is made and issued by the Quality Engineer, it should then be reviewed by the Quality Manager, Construction Manager and approved by Project Manager before it shall submit to the Engineer.

As it is always required by the contract or specification, Method Statement and Inspection and Test Plan including Checklist shall be submitted to the Engineer for approval.

The QA/QC Engineer shall maintain a register of all Inspection and Test Plan (ITP) including Checklists.

HOW TO PREPARE AN ITP?

In general the ITP should follow the sequence of operations and clearly define who is responsible for signing off each check. First decide when in the process you want to conduct an inspection or check. Common hold points are prior to a phase of high cost/ high value work, where any pre-existing problems will create difficulties at the next stage, or will mean a high cost of re-work when discovered later in the process. For each check point you need to specify exactly what to look for (perhaps refer to another document for details), how the check is recorded, and who must perform/sign-off the inspection.

The QA/QC Engineer may maintain a complete master set of approved Inspection and Test Plan. 

The inspection process shall have the inspection criteria for every Inspection and Test Plan item. Here are the following:

Surveillance ( S ) = random attendance at site, no signature required on the Inspection Request ( IR ) or its accompanying documentation.

Execution ( E ) = attendance at the site is a must, the signature is always on Inspection Request and Checklist.

Witness (W)  = attendance at the site is expected, the signature is required on check sheet of    Inspection Request ( IR ) and Checklist, but if the signatory is not present to sign at the time, follow on work may proceed and the document(s)  to be signed off later.

Hold Point (H) = attendance at the site is mandatory and signature is required on the check sheet of Inspection Request at the time of the inspection to release the following work. 

Review ( R ) = documents to be reviewed, no signature required on the Inspection Request or its accompanying documentation. 

Records (RE) = documentation to be recorded, no signature required on the Inspection Request or its accompanying documentation.

Test ( T ) = attendance is required, signature required on check sheet of Inspection request and checklist.

Here are the steps to do “How to prepare an Inspection & Test Plan.” And you could follow and apply to your project.

1. Read Specification.
When you want to start writing the ITP, you must firstly read the specification of the work that you are going to make an ITP for. Like “Block Works” you should read carefully the whole specification, not only once, but twice or much better, several times because there are terms sometimes that you have to understand well. During your reading, you can highlight the important terms so that when you come back you can immediately track it.
The specification is your basis for writing ITP.

2. Drawing, Method Statement & Material Submittal.
Make sure that the drawing is approved, if not, make sure that it is being submitted to the consultant because that will be incorporated in the ITP as preliminaries. The same with the method statement and material submittal, especially material submittal, there are some works that you’ll going to use the technical data of a material and you are going to pick some acceptance criteria’s from there. You will learn later in the next article how to identify and write the “Acceptance Criteria.”

3. Define Activity Description.
You could ask yourself by saying “What could I inspect in the first place?” In the specification that you’ve just read many times and perhaps you’d found this word “preparation or examination” that could be a hint of an activity that you are going to inspect first before the succeeding activity proceeds. You can see the sample of this article Understanding About Inspection & Test Plan.

Second, the word “Installation or Completed work” that would be your succeeding inspection. Like for example in the activity of block works, before the placing of a first level onto the slab, inspection shall be done first for surface preparation. So your activity description will be “Installation of block.”

And third, if you find the word “Test” this one will be another an activity that you should write. If the activity, for example, is block works, then that’s usually written in the specification “test of block sample” or sometimes “test of mortar.”

4. Test or Inspection Performed.
Let’s take this Inspection & Test Plan Sample, and see under the Test or Inspection Performed column. You will just write “Approval” for the documents that to be included such as the method statement, material submittal and inspection and test plan.

And write “Visual” for the material and activity to be inspected.

5. Stage or Frequency.
We’ll just jump off to the material to be inspected because there is no certain frequency for the documents or submittal. So we’ll go to the material and define what is the frequency. Once the material arrives on site then you may write the frequency “Every material arrive on site” or just simply “Material Arrival on Site.”


If you have mock-up sample for blockwork activity then your frequency there is going to be “1 wall panel (6 meters).”

In the activity of surface preparation and setting out your frequency there would be “Prior to laying of every course.” The last activity is “Completed blockwork” then your frequency there would be “Every completed panel/area.”

6. Code or Specification.
Under this column you will just write the corresponding code or specification to the “Activity Description” you’ve written. The Clause from the particular area of the specification. Like, for example “Specification Section 07300 Clause 1.0” is where the word “Surface Preparation” activity was written.

7. Acceptance Criteria.
The acceptance criteria are the most important part of your ITP, why? Because this is your basis how you are going to approve or accept the material arrive and work done on site respectively. So think deeply about this item.

In the “Blockwork” activity sample, let us say for example materials. What will be your acceptance criteria? No thinking twice, it would be “Approved Material Submittal as Code A/B or 1/2.” You will then write it in the row of material in your ITP under acceptance criteria column.

How about the “Setting out and surface preparation” activity? In the setting out activity, when you hear “setting out” it can immediately pop-up into your mind that it is made by a surveyor, therefore your acceptance criteria there would be a survey report, make sure the surveyor has signed it off before you submit to the Engineer/Consultant.

The “Surface Preparation” activity, how do you accept that? It could be surface is clean, surface is chipped-off etc. But that sentences are most likely to be written in the Checklist. So, the most general term would be “No unsatisfactory conditions.”

8. Inspection or Verification.
Under the inspection or verification, there are three parties involved which they are Contractor, Consultant or Engineer and Client or Employer. Now, there are corresponding responsibilities or task these three parties are involved in and to be represented by E as execution, W as witness point and H as hold point. First is Contractor which normally the party who will execute the project. Second, the consultant or engineer who will commonly checked the work or material, the inspection criteria will be either witness or hold.

The client will most commonly have a hold point status.

Now! How do you identify the inspection criteria such as witness point, hold point, surveillance and record?

Let’s say for example, we have “mock-up of blockwork / CMU” it is written in the specification you’ve just read this line “Approval of sample panel is for texture, size, color of masonry units; and other materials and construction qualities specifically approved by Engineer or Consultant.” So you will place H as hold point under the Engineer column and the Employer or Client then would be W as witness point. But sometimes the specification will be superseded when the Employer will decide to check the mock-up sample.

“Surveillance” is usually referred to the Employer, let’s have an example again, if there is “material arrival shall be checked by Engineer” then you will write H as hold point, so the hint are the words “checked by Engineer” and then if it doesn’t mention “checked by Employer” so then you will write S as surveillance.

“Record” is referred to Engineer when it comes to the approval of documents. So therefore you will write R as record under Engineer in the row of preparation of documents (ITP, Method Statement).

ITP EXAMPLE:

A common critical hold point is 'Incoming Goods" - particularly for manufacturers. Before you start working with the raw materials, you want to be sure that the supplier has delivered, what you asked for. If the wrong material has been supplied, it's better to send it back at the beginning rather than after you've spent time and money working on it. A minimal inspection in this case would be to examine the Supplied Material Technical and Test Certificates.

In construction, an inspection hold point usually comes after significant work as been done and prior to covering it all up in the next stage or work. e.g. prior to internal lining of the walls; prior to tiling going over the waterproofing. Here's an example ITP:

DEFINITION OF CHECKLIST?

A list of items shall be noted or checked in a completed activity. It is always attached to the Inspection Request. To be signed by concerns parties once the inspection is approved.

The detailed inspection instructions for each step in this example are contained within separate checklists. e.g. F-12 is a simple list of all the documentation that must be present before the site preparation can commence. The Pre-Pour checklist, F-72, includes a space to record any rectification required. Both items are important records for the project and can help to resolve any later disputes.

CHECKLIST EXAMPLE:

What's the difference in the "who" in the plan versus the "who" in the checklist?
The plan says which role is responsible for performing the inspection, and the checklist records the actual person who performed the inspection on the day.

ITP VS CHECKLIST

An Inspection and Test Plan is not the same as an Inspection Checklist.

An ITP tells you when in the process to perform an inspection. The details of the inspection are contained in the checklist, and are typically recorded there.

An ITP might refer to different checklists for each inspection point, or could refer to a code or standard that sets out the requirements for what and how the check must be performed, e.g. AS1012 - Methods of Testing Concrete. A simple ITP can closely match the checklist.

The Inspection and Test Plan is like a Work Instruction and the Checklist is a form that becomes the actual record. Both the ITP and Checklist are documents those must be controlled.

It will have a great impact on a project if there is ITP established. The easiness of writing your inspection description, writing the code or specification, identification of the inspection action code, and knowing the acceptance criteria of a specific activity, almost everything is in an Inspection and Test Plan. It is a blueprint of inspection.